QB depth chart after 4th preseason game.

Originally posted by 80sbaby24:
Tolzien is very Shaun Hill-esque....with a slightly better arm. I think if Alex goes down, I would be more comfortable with Tolzien playing the "dont turn the ball over, dont take many chances, let the D win the game" type offense (that Alex ran last year) than Kaepernick.

But with that said, I think Kaep has the most long term potential on the team....he just doesnt appear ready. While Kaep could develop into something special, Tolzien appears to be what he is....a solid backup NFL quarterback.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:1) Alex Smith - 14 - 4, NFC Championship game, low interceptions, definitely improved, worked on his mechanics, doesn't straighten out that knee so much anymore.

2) Scott Tolzien - clearly above and beyond any QB on our roster for pocket presense, awarness, accuracy. Practice squad? Please! Who are we kidding. No question he is the 2nd best QB on this team right now and I don't think it's close.

3) Colin Kaepernick - incredible, explosive, long run. Looks good outside the pocket. Clearly lacks timing, accuracy, decision making from within the pocket. Inside the pocket looks like he will struggle. He seems Tebow - esque. Great running and throwing outside the pocket running around. But confused and inaccurate inside the pocket. Not what you want. Looks exactly like the pistol offense guy he was at Nevade. Does he have huge upside? Yes. Is he ready now to be a pocket NFL QB? Hell no!

4) Josh Johnson - Harbaughs one time pupil at San Diego Torreros. At one time I thought Tolzien would be the odd man out. But I think it's him. There is talent, athleticism, and a pretty good arm there. And a history with Harbaugh. But why would you expose Tolzien who is CLEARLY better IMO? Keep him just because you have a history? I think you have to separate yourself from that. Look Alex makes it by default. Kaep didn't get picked that high to give up on. So he makes it too obviously. It comes down to 2 for 1 position. And I think Tolzien is clearly more accurate, more poised and greater command of things out there. Plus we already have 1 running QB. Why do we need 2? We need a pocket guy. And that's Tolzien.

I agree. However, i do think Harbaugh is setting Kapernik up to get some playing time this year. It looks to me like we'll show the spread occassionaly to give teams something else to think about. I can see Tolzien being a starter in this league. Not as sure about Johnson and Kapernik. Maybe, but it doesn't seem obvious to me.

Smith: He looked solid last night and continued where he left off last year. Made some nice dinks and dunks. Except he made a great backdoor throw to a scrub in the endzone. It was dangeous, i like that. But that play where he scrambled I didn't. He needs to step up and throw the ball there after avoiding the initial rush.

Kaep: He played against the 1s and 2s and did pretty good. Although he made some poor throws, he also made some nice ones. And lets not forget that run.

Tolzien: He looked good against guys who are not going to make teams in the NFL. Some of those throws he made, while standing in the pocket, are going to be picked off against NFL starters.

Originally posted by Young2Rice:Smith: He looked solid last night and continued where he left off last year. Made some nice dinks and dunks. Except he made a great backdoor throw to a scrub in the endzone. It was dangeous, i like that. But that play where he scrambled I didn't. He needs to step up and throw the ball there after avoiding the initial rush.

Kaep: He played against the 1s and 2s and did pretty good. Although he made some poor throws, he also made some nice ones. And lets not forget that run.

Tolzien: He looked good against guys who are not going to make teams in the NFL. Some of those throws he made, while standing in the pocket, are going to be picked off against NFL starters.

good job. i am very happy with his order and i think alot of us were hoping this would be the order, actually you could rotate two and three all day long. i am just happy the two kids have shown great improvement from this time last year and they will be better in a month then they are now,, that should be enough to cut johnson loose. i understand why they felt they had to sign him but its a tribute to the coaches and of course to the guys themselves, they have improved thier game enough in order to allow us to go into the season with the same quarterback order we had last year.

Originally posted by Ballistic:
Kap has an arm in terms of power, but I feel he's his own worst enemy when it comes to release time.

His throwing motion hinders his ability to get the ball to the intended receiver on time IMO

I feel like it usually gets to them one split second too late after the break off the route.

From the moment they decide to pull the trigger to the release of the ball, Kaepernick is quicker than Alex Smith. His motion is ugly but it is not slow.

His issue is he needs to make quicker decisions mentally.

True. It looks weird but his forward motion is better. Plus he doesn't do that weird thing Alex Smith sometimes does before he throws. Anyone notice sometimes he pumps the ball against his non throwing hand before the throws? Its kind of a cue to the D that he is about to throw.

What are specific things you think he couldve improved on when he left college?

That's just it, I didn't see much room for improvement. He was a wickedly efficient thrower under 15 yards, I think he completed over 70% his last year there or something, but was limited in his deep throwing ability just due to a lack of arm strength.

It doesn't really surprise me that he looks more polished than these other two guys. His game was always efficiency and execution, but when things would breakdown so would he and I just think you need more from your QB in terms of ability to win a game for you. He's a poor-man's Alex Smith but not as good at running.

Greaat, sounds like he's a better version of shaun hill but a less athletic then Jeff garcia. If that's the true case then tolziens' only good for the back up role. I thought he looked good to. D@m it.

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
True. It looks weird but his forward motion is better. Plus he doesn't do that weird thing Alex Smith sometimes does before he throws. Anyone notice sometimes he pumps the ball against his non throwing hand before the throws? Its kind of a cue to the D that he is about to throw.

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
True. It looks weird but his forward motion is better. Plus he doesn't do that weird thing Alex Smith sometimes does before he throws. Anyone notice sometimes he pumps the ball against his non throwing hand before the throws? Its kind of a cue to the D that he is about to throw.

Yeah Ive noticed it for sure.

He doesn't do it as much as he used to. Thta can lead to fumbles as well when you take the non-throwing hand off the ball for even a millisecond.

Bottom line, we have 4 legitimate QBs in camp and a clear cut starter and potential Super Bowl QB in Alex Smith. When I say legitimate, I don't mean that they're all ready to take this team to the promise land, IMO, only Smith has that ability right now (and I wasn't a Smith fan at all, so that's telling you something). By legit, I mean our starter can take us all the way, our key young backup has HUGE potential (Kap) which is what you want, and we can choose from 2 young and talented veterans to be a steady hand in case anything happened to the starter.

We're in damn good shape at the most important position in all of sports (IMO), and that's a far cry from where we were at this time last year.

Originally posted by GhostofFredDean74:
Bottom line, we have 4 legitimate QBs in camp and a clear cut starter and potential Super Bowl QB in Alex Smith. When I say legitimate, I don't mean that they're all ready to take this team to the promise land, IMO, only Smith has that ability right now (and I wasn't a Smith fan at all, so that's telling you something). By legit, I mean our starter can take us all the way, our key young backup has HUGE potential (Kap) which is what you want, and we can choose from 2 young and talented veterans to be a steady hand in case anything happened to the starter.

We're in damn good shape at the most important position in all of sports (IMO), and that's a far cry from where we were at this time last year.

Yup. We have a great blend of old veterens (Rogers, Smith, Goonwin etc...), players in their prime (Willis, Davis, Gore, Staley etc...) and young fresh talent (James, Jenkins, Bowman, Aldon).

We are going to be a solid team for awhile under JH. Congrats to Jed, JH and Baalke.

Just for one moment lets forget about how the qb made the team( 1st pick or uda what ever it is) and who they played against 2nd or 3rd string.
Let us analyze the first preseason game performance of Kaep and Tolzy for (#2 or # 3) on the qb dept chart.

Kaep- what an athlete he looked good when the play calls were called to his strengths but he still needs work on his progressions. There was a couple times were he was late on his throws and he almost threw a pick. Just like the announcers said "he needs to work on his reads to get the ball to the receiver on time"

Tolzy- He had a better command over the O and he did not look all nervous like Kaep. He was able to make the pre snap read of the D and make his progression reads during the plays. He made his 3rd string O line look very good because he was able to read the D and deliver the ball on time to the WR. He is athletic enough to pick up the first downs with his legs as he demonstrated during the game.

I would love to see Tolzy play against the 1's and two's on D. I beleive at this point in time if Smith were to go down Tolzy would be better off running our O. It comes down to either you could or can't make the neccessary reads to be a qb in the nfl and I think Kaep still needs some work. But hey its only the 1st preseason game. Lets just be happy that our starter did good!!

imo tolzein is more efficient than ck and efficiency will win with this team, hill was the best of our bad qb's and not really that good so i'm not sure that's a fair comparison. i've never understood the hype with johnson although he does spin the ball beautifully. tolzein should be the #2 this year.

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